Peaceful Valley Camping information

My name is Jim Rooney and I will be you son’s Scoutmaster at camp. My apologies for the delay in sending this communication.

This message is intended for parents of Scouts attending Camp Dietler at Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch June 26 – July 2nd. The contents of this email will significantly affect your son’s experience and enjoyment of summer camp, so please read this message in its entirety.

BSA Medical Form – parts A, B and C must be completed and sent to (electronic) or given to me prior to departure for camp. Note that Part C requires a medical professional signature and physical.

1. Parent/Adult Trip Attendance REQUIRED – We are bringing 38 scouts to summer camp this year! While this is a sign of a great troop, in order to properly supervise a group this size we need adults to coach and mentor the young, still learning patrol leaders through cooking, chores, and delegation and accountability of responsibilities. A 1:10 ratio of adults to scouts is required. As of today we still need adult volunteers. (This puzzles the troop leadership, as usually there is a waiting list for adults to attend. Camp is fun! Moms and Dads – we have WiFi!)

As you can see, we lack sufficient adults for daytime programs (which really breaks down into breakfast supervision and departure from camp, hanging out in the leader lounge or watching merit badge programs, then accounting for scouts as they return for dinner) and just a few additional nighttime adults needed (supervising dinner, quiet time, sleeping on-site, and then breakfast).

The consequences of insufficient adults on-site at camp may include:

Boys and their patrols will be disorganized, will miss or be late to merit badge programs.

Meal preparation and cooking will suffer. Food quality will be poor.

Leadership development (within the “Patrol Method”) will not meet the expectations of parents or the troop leadership.

Camp Scoutmaster’s attention to scout and patrol issues (homesickness, behavior or discipline issues, general counseling) will not be sufficient (because he will be attending to supervision instead).

We may have to keep more boys together on Outpost, resulting in a crowded “backcountry” experience.

As a LAST RESORT – we may have to cancel a few boy’s summer camp registration in order to stay within BSA youth protection and health & safety rules.

Departure Info: We will depart PEPC promptly at NOON on Sunday, June 26th. Please arrive 30 minutes early for equipment checkout, paperwork and attendance, and loading into vehicles. Early is the norm, on-time (Noon) is LATE, missing our departure time is unacceptable.

Return Info: We will depart Peaceful Valley promptly at 10am on Saturday, July 2nd. We expect to return to PEPC by 11:30am. Please be at PEPC by that time. Scouts trying to hitchhike home after 6 days in the dust and dirt of Colorado = again, not a pretty sight. 🙂

4. Scouts With Special Needs – Please let me know if you have a scout with special needs (physical, emotional or mental). As a father of a special needs child, I am both sensitive to and understanding of the extra time and effort needed to enable that scout to not only enjoy summer camp but to prosper. That is the very reason we have them in Scouting. Please also consider spending the first day at camp with us to assist your son (and help and advise me) with settling in.

5. BSA Medical Form REQUIRED – The BSA medical form (with parts A, B, and C completed) are required for ALL scouts attending summer camp at Peaceful Valley. No exceptions are permitted. Scouts arriving at PEPC on June 26th without a medical form on file with me (paper or electronic) will not be allowed to depart with the troop. I will notify those parents of scouts from whom I have not received a medical form within a few days. I am sorry for the harshness of this policy, but both BSA and the Colorado Department of Health are unbending on this policy. Click here for a copy of the current BSA medical form in an easy, form-fillable PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format.

(Note – adult volunteers staying less than 72 hours (3 days) at PV need only to complete themselves (no physical needed) parts A and B of the form.)

6. Medications at Summer Camp – ALL medications (prescription and over-the-counter), required to be taken by your scout must be listed on their medical form, be in their original pharmacy container, be current (not expired) and be presented to me prior to departure from PEPC. (This is a State of Colorado, Dept of Human Services, Child Care Division regulation.)

8. Packing for Camp – A duffle bag works great for camp. Putting everything needed in the duffle bag make loading and unloading fast and easy. Remember that a backpack will be needed for Outpost camping on Wednesday night.

9. Last Call for Swim Checks – Getting your swim checks before camp eliminates having to wait in line an extended period for a camp swim check before being allowed to swim, canoe or sail. The last swim checks will be held:

Friday, 6/17 at Parker Rec Center (pool) from 6:30pm – 7:30pm

Sunday, 6/19 at Parker Rec Center (pool) from 6:30pm – 7:30pm

Additional swim checks MAY be held at Canterbury pool. Stay tuned for additional emails from Mr Townsend for more info.

10. Any Additional Questions? Most remaining questions can be answered by reading the PV Parent Info Packet and/or the Camp Dietler Leader Guide. I would be happy to answer any questions that these two (rather comprehensive) guides contain.

Finally, I am very excited and pleased to be able to serve as your Camp Scoutmaster this summer. I look forward to meeting and getting to know your boys. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to improve your son’s camp experience this summer.